Week 2. Check.

Friday when I got home from class, via an ecotourism agency where we scoped out the possibilities for a mountain adventure next weekend, I was put straight to work. To be fair, I did walk into the kitchen bearing a bag of strawberries and asking if I could help. In short order I was slicing pickles and carrots and potatoes for soup. Host mother, host sister, sister’s friend, host brother: we all jostled for counter space and the stove. It was an amiable mess, with some moments of concern, such as when the oven door opened inches from my leg…

Hot oil, boiling soup, steaming oven. Good thing it was such a cool and beautiful day in Almaty. We’ve had a couple days of rain and cold (I’ve been vindicated for bringing along a few articles of warm clothing), so it was a joy just to walk home from class in the sun. Almaty is oriented with the mountains as compass rose. The whole city is on a slant. Class is “up” from where I live, so I take the bus. Coming home is all “down,” which makes for a pleasant walk through the heart of the city.

Of course, living on a mountain slope has its disadvantages. On Tuesday I was caught out on a walk when it started to pour. There have been a couple of thunderstorms so far, but this was a riot of rain that quickly turned into a flash flood. Rain in the city means it’s been raining for a while up above, and all that water has to go somewhere. Most of it seemed to end up in my socks.

Fortunately enough, the place I was going for an interview was not deterred when I showed up soaking at their door. From here on in, I’ll be spending a few hours a week with the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia. There are quite a few interns on board this summer and currently we are all housed on the fourth floor of the building around a conference table. We are basically a secretary corps; my current task involves translating cross-tabulated data sets (don’t tell my Kazakh teacher that most of it is translation from Russian to English…). I am enjoying the chance to see how the organization works, and also the chance to shake up my schedule a bit!

Kazakh is difficult, but it is rewarding to be starting to recognize new words. Watching television is no longer quite such a mystery; I’ve even glimpsed a Turkish soap opera dubbed into Kazakh, which was my favorite way to learn Russian, so maybe I should re-develop my addiction. Speaking Kazakh in Kazakhstan is still a magical key. Yeah, people will stare at you like you are even more crazy than usual, but it’s fun to watch the reactions when they match your face to your words. I like to think I brighten the day of the two young people working in the samsa stand near the university when I make it to the front of the line and order my hot pastry puff filled with salty cheese. Russian is still far and away the lingua franca, but there is more Kazakh on the streets than I remember from two years ago.

Did you know that just last week in Ankara, Turkey they unveiled a new statue of none other than Our President? Whose birthday is on July 6, which just happens to be a national holiday (ok, so technically it‘s a holiday for Astana…)? Who was referred to in a poem in the state newspaper as “Ata-Kazakh”?

Really, I have no comment, just wanted to frame some rhetorical questions.

Also, for those who are concerned, we are keeping our eyes on Kyrgyzstan, though there hasn’t been too much in the local press about the on-going situation in the south. Osh and Jalalabad are both very far from here. I met an fellow ex-pat last weekend who drove through the region sort of accidentally (he had been out of contact for a few days before driving from Tajikistan north to Almaty). His report involved being shot at while driving around a road block; I’m sad to say this is probably the least harrowing of the stories coming out of the area. Let’s all just keep hoping for peace, and maybe for some answers.

My homework this weekend involved writing a 5-page paper in Kazakh. The theme was Human Relations. Somehow the length was both too short and far, far too long, especially after I spent two evenings in a row at Kazakh theaters.